Common Reading author Luis Urrea to lecture Sept. 8

Luis Alberto Urrea will give SMU’s first 2008-09 Gartner Honors Lecture at 4 p.m. Sept. 8 in the Hughes-Trigg Student Center Theater. The entire SMU community and the general public are welcome.

Urrea is author of The Devil’s Highway, an account of 26 Mexican men who risked an illegal border crossing in Arizona’s Sonoran Desert in May 2001. Urrea interweaves the stories of the “Yuma 14″ – the men who died during the attempt – with those of the people and governments who aided, pursued or betrayed them, as well as of the 12 survivors. The Devil’s Highway was selected as SMU’s 2008 Common Reading Experience.

On the day of the lecture, Urrea and SMU History Professor Ben Johnson will be guests on KERA Radio’s “Think.” The broadcast begins at noon. Listen live from the KERA website.